


Opposite Sides of the World

by Lost_Robin



Series: Opposite Sides of the World [1]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:53:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24516460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lost_Robin/pseuds/Lost_Robin
Summary: Mako, Chuck, and Anna's teenage years.
Series: Opposite Sides of the World [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1308959
Comments: 6
Kudos: 2





	1. Flight

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, everyone! We're back! This is going to go from 2018 to late 2024. I can't see there being any rating change, though, now that I've said that, it'll probably change. I apologize now for any feels that I cause.  
> October 1, 2018: Anna touches down in Cambridge.

Anna arrived in Cambridge with no more than a trunk and duffel bag. The taxi had dropped her off in front of her dorm, the driver looking worriedly at this girl who couldn’t have been more than sixteen. Had he voiced his concern out loud, Anna would have told him that she was barely fifteen. Gottliebs tended to go to university early.

Her room was larger than her quarters in Anchorage, and she got her own, very small, bathroom, which was something she hadn’t had since she had lived with her grandmother in London. The building was almost silent compared to the Shatterdomes. It made her feel uneasy, how quiet everything was. No engines, no creaking. Nothing smelled like oil, like sea-salt, like chalk. It smelled of nothing except lemon-scented cleaning supplies.

Unpacking took next to no time at all, with most of what she brought being books and clothing. She pulled a Jaeger Academy hoodie out of her duffel bag and buried her face in it. It smelled like home. Chuck had handed it to her as she left the Shatterdome.

Her grandmother had emailed her and told her that she would take Anna out for dinner her first night. Bastien was in France on a tour, so he wouldn’t be joining them. She had most of the day to herself and nothing to do.

Had she been in one of the Shatterdomes, any of the Shatterdomes, she would have known exactly what to do. There was always someone that needed help, a quick hand carrying something or a translation that couldn’t wait. The Rangers were always bored when they weren’t on duty, and they always liked to play cards or kick a football around. And, if the Rangers were busy, there was always something useful for her to do. The LOCCENT people always had a task for her, whether it was fetching them drinks or sorting data. Tendo always had her go get him bagels from the dining hall.

But she didn’t even know how to get around Cambridge, let alone what to do in this city. Not for the first time that day, she missed the comfort of the Shatterdomes. They were their own communities. One never had to leave the Shatterdome unless they needed to buy something. What was she to do here?

It was much too early to call Anchorage. It was a nine-hour difference, and it was the middle of the night there. She would have to wait until after dinner to call. She already missed Chuck and Mako so much. At least Hermann promised that she could go home over the holidays.

After pulling on the hoodie, Anna went out into the hallway. It wouldn’t do to get lost in her own dorm. It wasn’t that big. Compared to the Shatterdome, it was miniscule. She had managed to navigate Shatterdomes by herself. A college dormitory should have been much easier than that.

There were four rooms, it seemed, on her floor. If they were all the same size as her room, then this floor was only about twice as large as the flat she and Hermann had in Berlin. Not large enough that she could get lost.

A redheaded girl poked her head out of one of the rooms, where classical music could be heard. Anna almost said something about how the girl’s slippers would fall victim to the grates in the Shatterdome before she remembered that she was no longer in PPDC territory.

“Thought I heard someone come in,” she said. She paused, looking at this girl in an oversized PPDC hoodie. “You one of the new girls?”

Anna nodded. “Anna Gottlieb,” she said.

“Ella Cross.” Ella looked the girl over again, tucking a strand of red hair behind her tan ear. “You an international student?”

“Of a sort,” Anna said.

Truth be told, she didn’t know if she was an international student or not. Her schooling had been through the British system, just like this girl’s, and she was a British citizen, born on British soil. But she hadn’t lived in England since she was five.

Ella nodded. “My family lived in America for most of my life,” she said. “What are you reading?”

“Modern and medieval languages,” Anna said, feeling confident now that they were talking about school. “French and German, more specifically, but I’m looking to brush up on my Russian.”

She didn’t get as much practice with Russian, seeing as the Kaidonvskies were in Vladivostok now. Cambridge insisted she pick only two languages to study, though they agreed to waive the year abroad requirement, if she spent one of her summers working for the PPDC, allowing her to finish in three years instead of four.

“Never could get the hang of French in school,” Ella said. “I’m doing history and politics. More specifically, the politics bit. Sort of the family thing.” She paused. “Gottlieb. Are you German?”

“Mostly English,” Anna said. “But I lived in Germany for about six years.”

She would have to visit Germany again, now that she was in Europe. There was no Hermann here to protect her. Her father had already emailed her to let her know that Dieter, her elder half-brother, would be visiting soon. She didn’t mind Dieter; she just didn’t know how to talk to him. He was seven years older than her, which just meant he was the same age as most of the Rangers that she saw every day.

It was much easier to talk to them, though, because she actually had something in common with them. She actually missed the Rangers, though she did not miss how Raleigh seemed to get himself into trouble with the Marshal every weekend.

“Cool.” Ella popped her head back into her room, then popped back out after a minute or two. “If you’re not doing anything, you want to come hang out with me and my best friend?”

“Sure,” Anna said.

She followed Ella into the room, which looked very much like hers, but with more personal touches. Ella seemed to be a fan of old films, judging by the posters plastered on the walls. Sitting on the purple and black checkered duvet was a blonde girl who looked like she had stepped out of a Reubens painting.

“This is Anna Gottlieb,” Ella said with a flourish. “Anna, this is Victoria Cavendish.”

Victoria smiled, showing two perfect dimples. “She’s like this sometimes,” she said in the poshest accent Anna had ever heard, both of her grandmothers’ accents included. “Terribly sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Anna said. “So what are you reading?”

“Classics, to the disappointment of my father.” She gestured at the desk chair. “Please, sit down. You look tired.”

Anna scrambled into the seat. “I had a long flight,” she said truthfully.

It wasn’t the longest flight Anna had ever been on, which was the first flight she and Hermann took for the PPDC, but she had spent a good bit of it crying.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” Ella said, sitting next to Victoria on the bed. “But you look rather young.”

“I’m fifteen,” Anna said.

Victoria and Ella exchanged a look.

“And you’re studying at uni?” Victoria asked. “Color me impressed.”

Anna sniffled, then started crying. Victoria ran over and hugged Anna, making comforting noises as Anna sobbed into her shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” Anna hiccupped after a couple minutes. “I’m really sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Victoria said, smoothing down Anna’s hair. “Where are you from, sweetheart?”

“Uncle Hermann’s stationed at Anchorage during term, but he flew off to Lima a couple days ago to meet with some Kaiju biologist.”

Victoria and Ella exchanged another look.

“First time going somewhere without him?” Victoria asked softly.

That had been when he had sent her to Anchorage after the Woods sisters’ funeral, but she and Chuck had been on the same flight as the Becket brothers, so it really hadn’t been like this time. She had been an unaccompanied minor who had been watched like a hawk the entire flight.

“No, but it’s the first time I’ve been so far away.” Anna rubbed her eyes. “I really am sorry.”

“Nothing wrong with being homesick,” Ella said.

Victoria wiped Anna’s eyes. “Nothing wrong at all,” she said. “Cambridge is a bit different from a Shatterdome, isn’t it?”

Anna nodded.

“I don’t promise there will be Jaegers here, but we have some of the same things,” Victoria said. “I know it isn’t the same, but give us a chance?”

Anna nodded again.

“Atta girl.” Victoria smiled. “Stick with us, Anna.”

Ella ordered pizza, which Anna found out was very much like the pizza they made at the Shatterdome, though it had rather mundane toppings. After lunch, she went back to her room to get ready for dinner with her grandmother.

“I need to make a call,” Victoria said once Anna had left Ella’s room.

“To whom?” Ella asked.

“My aunt.”

Ella paused. “Is that kid your cousin or something?” she asked.

“First cousin, once removed, I think,” Victoria said. “Dad always said something about his niece having a kid with a Gottlieb, and you saw how much she looks like Aunt Helen.”

Helen was nine years older than Victoria’s father, and had always been a sort of older motherly figure to his six children. Her father had children late in life, and Victoria, her twin brother, and younger sister were from his second wife.

“How is it going so far?” Emily asked when she and Anna were seated in Emily’s favorite restaurant.

Most of the year, Emily lived in London, but she maintained a summer home just outside of Cambridge. She had grown up in Cambridge, and it was where she had met Lars. It was also, as she often said, where she divorced Lars as well.

“It’s different than I expected, but I’m sure I’ll acclimate quickly,” Anna said.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I invited your grandmother to dinner as well,” Emily said. “She’s in town, visiting her nieces and nephews. In fact, she said she’s bringing two of them along. One of them is your age.”

Soon enough, Helen Smith came to their table, followed by two blondes, one of whom Anna had seen a few hours earlier.

“Good evening,” Helen said.

Anna had always looked more like her maternal grandmother than her paternal grandmother. If she were being entirely honest, she took the most after her father, but she shared Helen’s hazel eyes and ears.

Anna paled when Victoria waved at her.

“Victoria told me that she met you in her dorm,” Helen said. “I thought it couldn’t hurt for you to have a friendly face. And this is Augusta, her younger sister. Augusta is your age, Anna.”

Augusta smiled widely. “Pleasure to meet you,” she said.

“Pleasure,” Anna said.

“You’ll have to forgive Anna,” Emily said. “She had a long flight.”

“Have you been travelling?” Augusta asked.

“Uncle Hermann’s stationed in Anchorage,” Anna said. “So I flew from there.”

“I’ve never been to Alaska,” Augusta said. “What’s it like?”

“Very cold. I’ve never really been anywhere other than the Shatterdome. It’s not very easy to get from the Dome to town.”

Augusta nodded. “Aren’t there a couple much closer to cities?” she asked.

Anna nodded, perking up a little. “The Hong Kong Shatterdome is in the port,” she said. “It’s easy enough to walk into the city, though it’s not exactly recommended. And the Sydney one is right on the beach. They even have a little strand of beach. It’s only big enough for a couple beach chairs, but it’s nice.”

“Augusta goes to school just outside of Cambridge,” Helen said. “The Kensington School?”

“That’s what Uncle Hermann arranged my schooling through.”

“It’s quite lovely,” Augusta said. “We even get to go into Cambridge on weekends sometimes.”

By the end of dinner, Anna was feeling a little more comfortable halfway around the world from her best friends. Augusta had given Anna her mobile number and offered to introduce her to her friends when she had the chance.

The schoolwork was rather easy, especially since she didn’t have to do maths or physics. She was already fluent in French and German, and they were allowing her to take Russian classes. Apparently, though, she spoke Russian with a very heavy Siberian accent that made her professor wonder where she learned to speak the language.

About a month into school, Anna met up with Augusta and her friends. Victoria dropped Anna off at Kensington.

“Welcome to Kensington,” Augusta said, hugging Anna. “Allow me to give you a proper tour of the place.”

Once they had finished their tour, Augusta led Anna to a common room.

“And these are my mates,” she said, gesturing widely at the motley crew assembled in the common room. “Everyone, this is Anna.”

“Ah, the cousin we’ve been told so much about,” one of the boys said, getting up. He walked over and held out his hand to Anna. “Albert Mountbatten-Neville, but, please, call me Bertie.”

Anna shook his hand. “Anna Gottlieb,” she said.

“Augusta told us you’re at King’s College,” one of the other boys said. “And you’re fluent in, what was it, four languages?”

“Only fluent in three, but I’m close to fluent in three more,” Anna said. “And I’m working on my Russian.”

“Don’t hog her, Bertie,” the third boy in the room called.

Bertie escorted her to the couch, acting like a perfect gentleman. Then he sat next to the third boy, kissing his cheek.

“This is my boyfriend, Alan,” he said. “But he usually goes by Chum.”

“With the last name of Cholmondeley-Wellington, wouldn’t you?” Alan asked.

“And that would be Clarence, who has a normal last name,” Bertie said. “And the ever-lovely Juliet.”

“Pleasure to meet all of you,” Anna said.

“You wouldn’t happen to be related to Hermann Gottlieb, would you?” Clarence asked.

“He’s my uncle. I live with him most of the time.”

“I thought you looked familiar. The Darling of the Jaeger Program, in our very county. Would you like some tea?”

“Thank you.”

Clarence started busying himself with making tea. “See, my mother is equally fascinated and horrified by the Jaeger Program,” he said. “Fascinated that humans are ingenious enough to create big robots that can destroy a Kaiju, but horrified by the possibility that her only son could run off and join.”

“Clarence can’t even kick around a football, so there’s no worries there,” Bertie said.

“And, if I  _ were _ to go to a Shatterdome, it would be to take pictures,” Clarence said. “Have you seen what the Shatterdomes look like on the inside? Each bay can hold thirty Jaegers.  _ Thirty _ Jaegers.”

“Actually,” Anna said. “It’s thirty total, and that’s only for the Hong Kong Shatterdome. The others are a bit smaller.”

The other teenagers in the room looked at her owlishly.

“Sorry,” she said quickly. “The press misheard the Marshal and thought that each bay could hold thirty, when he was just talking about the whole Shatterdome. The bays are big, but they’re not  _ that _ large.”

“So you’ve been to the Hong Kong Shatterdome?” Clarence asked.

Anna nodded. “Lived in it for a little over a year,” she said. “I’m one of the reasons there’s a classroom there.”

“That is possibly the coolest thing I’ve ever heard,” Clarence said.

“Ignore him,” Augusta said. “He’s not a Jaeger Fly; he just wants to be a photojournalist.”

“And the PPDC would be incredible to write an article on.”

“It’s been done, mate,” Alan said. “At least fifty times.”

“And you’re talking to one of the people who’s constantly interviewed about it,” Bertie said, gesturing at Anna.

“If they think you don’t speak English, then they don’t interview you as often,” Anna said with a shrug. “It works rather well for me and Uncle Hermann.”

Clarence grinned. “You know,” he said, holding the teacup out to Anna. “I think you’ll fit in just fine.”


	2. Into the Spider's Web

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> December 12, 2018: Anna meets Jaeger Flies.

Anna spent most of her weekends at the Kensington School, which she found out was a school for gifted students, which explained why Hermann had gone there as a child and why he had set up Anna’s schooling through there. While none of her new friends were going to university at fifteen, they were graduating a year earlier than their contemporaries at other schools.

But Anna was very homesick for the PPDC and Shatterdomes. There weren’t any Ranger brats, Anna having checked that as soon as she had gotten settled, but there was a club on campus for Jaeger enthusiasts. Perhaps that would be good enough. She wasn’t an enthusiast in the usual sense, but perhaps there were some J-Tech brats there? She could try to fit in with the J-Tech brats, seeing as, technically, she was one of them.

She showed up to the room that was specified on the flier in normal, not PPDC-required clothing that Augusta and Victoria had taken her to buy a few weeks before. She didn’t want them to get the wrong idea about her or anything. She had even left her chocolate jumper in her room, just in case they paid attention to the news.

There were only a few people in the room, mainly girls. There was one guy in the corner, reading the Gage brothers’ autobiography. Anna had a copy of it in her quarters in Anchorage. They had given it to her one year for Christmas, but, then again, they had given everyone in the Los Angeles Shatterdome a copy.

A girl in the center of the room looked up when she heard the door open, her frizzy brown hair almost bouncing.

“You here for the Jaeger club?” she asked.

Anna nodded.

“Come in, come in. Sit,” she said. “We’re just about to get started.”

Anna sat in one of the empty chairs near the center of the room. The girl smiled encouragingly at her.

“I’m Martha,” she said. “Founder of this club. Now, which one is it you have your eye on?”

“Pardon?”

“Which Ranger,” Martha clarified. “We all have our favorite. Mine, personally, is Raleigh Becket. Most people around here like Pentecost best. Hometown boy, you know. Or Herc Hansen.” She looked Anna over. “Aren’t you a bit young to be at uni?”

Favorite Ranger? How could she pick a favorite Ranger? That was like picking a favorite book or organ.

Well, if she were being forced to choose a favorite Ranger, she would have to pick Chuck and Mako. She couldn’t pick between the two, not even if it were between life and death.

“That’s the teen genius,” the guy in the corner said. “Anna something.”

Oh no. There was a reason why they had favorite Rangers, and she wanted to have no part in this. These were people she wasn’t supposed to talk to and for good reason.

“I’m sorry,” Anna said, standing up. “But I think I’m in the wrong place.”

Maybe she would go into town. Her grandmother had said something about there being a nice sweet shop not too far. She could get Chuck and Mako something nice for Christmas.

“Gottlieb, right?” one of the other girls said. “She’s reading modern languages.”

“This is the Jaeger club,” Martha said. She paused. “Gottlieb? As in  _ the _ Gottlieb family?”

Anna had stumbled upon a nest of Jaeger Flies. Her worst nightmare, come to life. She had heard about Jaeger Flies, only seeing them at a distance as she went into the Anchorage Shatterdome. Herc had warned the three of them not to say a word about anything related to the PPDC to anyone unless they were with an adult. Yancy Becket told her one time that Jaeger Flies would do almost anything to get a scoop or sleep with a Ranger and that if she saw one in the Shatterdome, she was supposed to alert security.

Anna hurried towards the door. “I’m terribly sorry,” she said, “but I must have gone to the wrong room.”

She nodded at them, then ran out of there, ignoring Martha’s calls after her.

Anna called Mako not long before dinner that night, hoping to catch her and Chuck before their classes started for the day. When Mako picked up, however, she was in a different set of quarters than usual. There were boxes behind Mako, and the blueprints of their Jaeger were sitting on top of them instead of being hung up.

“Where’s Chuck?” Anna asked.

She had made sure to calculate the time difference correctly. Anchorage was nine hours behind her, so it should have been about eight in the morning there. Maybe Mako had been moved to different quarters.

“Sensei was transferred to Lima,” Mako said glumly.

“What about the academy?”

Mako shook her head. “I’m training in J-Tech now,” she said. “Sensei thinks it is a much better fit.”

If Anna hadn’t had an exam in French literature the next day, she would have flown straight to Lima to tell Stacker what she thought of this. And if she hadn’t been afraid of him. Well, it was healthy respect, but, still, she didn’t want to get on his bad side again.

“I’m so sorry,” Anna said.

Mako shrugged. “It’s fine,” she said. “I’m learning a lot about how to build Jaegers. How is university?”

It was at that moment that Anna started crying. Just seeing one of her best friends was enough to remind her of how much she missed them, the Shatterdomes, everything about the PPDC.

“I tried to join the Jaeger club on campus, figured maybe there’d be some Jaeger brats like us, but they’re just a bunch of Jaeger Flies!” she sobbed. “And, I’m sorry, Mako, but Marshal Pentecost is one of their most popular ones.”

“No!” Mako gasped.

Anna nodded. “Followed by Ranger Hansen,” she said. “I’m glad Chuck’s still at the academy or I would have had to hear them go on about him.”

It would have been absolutely horrible to hear other girls go on about Chuck. He was Anna and Mako’s and no one else’s.

“They sound horrible.”

“I can’t wait until term ends so I can go home. I’m sure Uncle Hermann will be going to Lima over the summer, so I’ll see you then?”

“Of course,” Mako said, nodding. “And we can always email.”

In fact, Anna wrote both of her best friends emails every single morning. They weren’t always the longest, but she made sure that they heard from her every day so they didn’t think that she had forgotten them.

Anna nodded. “I miss you,” she said. “I met some people our age, and they seem pretty nice. But I miss you and Chuck.”

“I miss you too. How are your classes?”

“They’re great. I’m going to be taking some Russian classes, so maybe we’ll finally be able to understand the Kaidonovskies when they talk about birthday presents?”

The problem with understanding the Kaidonovskies was not that they were speaking Russian. It was that they were speaking Russian with thick Siberian accents, and the only online Russian class Anna could find while she was in the Shatterdome was one where the accent was completely different.

Mako smiled. “You’ll have to teach me while you’re here,” she said.

“I promise I’ll try my best, but you know how bad I am at spelling in Russian.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think!
> 
> Next time: Mako leaves the Jaeger Academy.


	3. Displacement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> December 2, 2018: Some changes are made at the Anchorage Shatterdome.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is much shorter than all of the other chapters, but I've been working on it for months, and I haven't been able to make it any longer. That being said, it might be edited in the future. I hope you enjoy!

Chuck was standing in the Kwoon room when he heard the worst possible news he could have, barring Lucky Seven getting hurt or destroyed during a deployment. Mako had asked him to come spar with her, like they had done hundreds of times before. He liked sparring with her rather than their classmates because she always took it just as seriously as he did. She looked the same as she always did, wearing the standard-issue PPDC sweats that they all wore when they weren’t in class, and their spar had gone the same way it always had.

Until she said five words that he never thought he’d hear from her.

“What do you mean you’re leaving the academy?” Chuck asked.

One more year, and then they were going to be pilots. How could Mako chicken out now? They were so close to getting what they wanted, and now she was giving it all up out of a sense of duty. They had a duty: defeat the Kaiju. That was it. That was what they had been planning since they had been twelve, and Mako couldn’t let anything get in the way of their plans. Not when they were so close to finishing.

“Sensei thought it best that I transfer to J-Tech and train in Lima,” Mako said. “He is going to be the Marshal there.”

“And you’re just going to go with him?”

“It is what is best for the PPDC,” Mako said. “Duty comes first.”

“Screw duty,” Chuck said. “You promised.”

A little voice in Chuck’s head that sounded suspiciously like Anna said something about Stacker knowing what was best. He didn’t like when that little voice spoke up, especially in matters like this. Stacker didn’t know best. Mako had one of the highest simulation scores at the academy, beaten only by Chuck himself. They were going to be copilots, and then they were going to help defeat the Kaiju. That was it. That was all they needed to do in order to be successful. Nothing was going to get in the way of their plans, especially not Stacker.

“I would not be a good copilot for you,” Mako said firmly.

“Bullshit.”

Yes, they had their difficulties, but so did every pair. They had one of the best simulation scores on record, beating even the Beckets’ score. How could Stacker not have seen what he was doing, splitting them up? How was he supposed to be the greatest Jaeger pilot of all-time if his co-pilot was taken out of training?

Mako gave him a stern look. “Sensei has already disenrolled me from the academy,” she said. “It is out of our hands now.”

“You already gave up,” he said. “What the hell am I supposed to do without a co-pilot?”

“You’ll find a way.” She got up. “I have to pack. We leave tomorrow.”

“You can’t just leave me here.”

“Orders are orders.”

“Oh, so now you care about all of that?” he asked. “Now you care about whether or not you’re following orders?”

Mako drew back as though he had hit her. “It’s called respect,” she said stiffly. “You should try it sometime.”

“Oh, I don’t know what respect is?” Chuck asked. “At least I didn’t abandon my co-pilot because my dad said to. You promised.”

“Things changed,” Mako said.

“Yeah, well, maybe I don’t need you,” Chuck said. “I’ll find a better co-pilot than you ever could have been.”

Mako nodded. “Good luck,” she said, bowing briefly.

Chuck just grabbed his staff and turned towards the dummies. If he were going to become the greatest Jaeger pilot in history, he needed to work on his katas. He needed to be so good that not even a bad co-pilot would keep him down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy! So, I know that I said in the server that the first two chapters would be tightly linked, but that's because I forgot what I wrote. Chapters 2 and 3 are the tightly linked ones, and I'll discuss that more in the end notes of Chapter 2. Let me know what you thought!


End file.
